Page 32 of Todd
Basketball sat alone at a table designed for much shorter people, her knees bumping the underside as she tried to navigate the delicate china with hands that seemed more suited to handling a basketball than dainty teacups. Sadie felt a surge of sympathy for the woman, recognizing a fellow fish out of water in this sea of luxury.
Zen Girl was half-asleep over her green smoothie. Her perpetually drowsy expression suggested that not even the spa’s regimented schedule could overcome her natural inclination toward unconsciousness. Vanilla Ice’s hair was pulled back in the same topknot as yesterday, making Sadie wonder if she slept with it that way or if achieving that perfect tousled look required more effort than it appeared.
Melinda wasn’t sitting close to her, but the two women managed to catch each other’s eyes, nodding their greeting from across the room.
Twenty minutes later, Sadie found herself being herded along with the other guests toward the yoga pavilion. She stared dumbly at the stunning glass-walled structure that seemed to float above the desert floor like a crystal bubble. The space was flooded with natural light, offering panoramic views of the surrounding landscape while maintaining the climate-controlled comfort that guests clearly expected.
Yoga mats were arranged in precise rows, each one accompanied by props and accessories that Sadie had no idea how to use. She grabbed a mat in the back row, instinctively preferring a position where she could observe the room and its occupants without feeling exposed.
As other guests filtered in and claimed their spots, she was pleasantly surprised to see Melinda approaching. The woman looked as out of place as Sadie felt among the designer-clad yoga enthusiasts, her practical workout clothes and minimal makeup a refreshing contrast to the carefully curated appearances surrounding them.
“Mind if I sit next to you?” Melinda asked quietly, her voice barely audible over the ambient music that had followed them into the pavilion.
“Please do,” Sadie replied, genuinely pleased to have an ally in what promised to be an hour of stretching and pseudo-spiritual platitudes. “I was hoping I’d see you again.”
Melinda sat on her mat, and the two women cast glances around the room.
Sadie took in how other guests settled onto their mats with the practiced ease of people who attended yoga classes at exclusive studios as part of their regular routines. “I have toadmit, I was dreading doing this alone. Everyone else seems so... comfortable with all this. Yoga isn’t my thing.”
“Yoga isn’t my thing, either, although I did some in college.”
Their whispered conversation was interrupted by the instructor's arrival. The woman was willowy with the kind of ethereal beauty that suggested she survived on nothing but filtered air and positive energy. Her flowing white garments seemed to move independently of any earthly breeze, and her voice carried the breathy quality of someone who’d spent years perfecting the art of speaking in spiritual clichés.
“Welcome, beautiful souls, to this sacred morning practice,” she intoned, her hands pressed together in prayer position at her heart. “I am Seraphina, and I’ll be guiding you through a journey of awakening and transcendence.”
Sadie barely managed to suppress a snort of laughter, catching Melinda’s eye and seeing her own amusement reflected there.Seraphina?She wondered whether her parents had actually named her that, or if it was part of the spa’s commitment to manufactured mystique?
“Let us begin by setting our intentions for this practice,” Seraphina continued, her voice taking on the hypnotic cadence of a meditation recording. “Close your eyes and connect with your deepest desires for transformation and healing.”
As the instructor launched into a lengthy monologue about chakras and energy flows, Sadie found herself studying the other participants through half-closed eyes. Most seemed to be taking the spiritual rhetoric seriously, their faces arranged in expressions of earnest concentration. A few were clearly going through the motions, probably counting down the minutes until they could return to more comfortable activities.
But it was the staff member positioned off to the side of the room who caught her attention. He seemed more interested in observing the guests themselves, but she had no idea what hewas looking for. He took notes on a tablet, and his attention lingered on certain guests longer than others. Sadie noticed that both she and Melinda were among those receiving extended scrutiny.
The observation sent a chill down her spine that had nothing to do with the pavilion’s air-conditioning. Combined with last night’s encounter with Brock James and her growing unease about the spa’s controlling atmosphere, she wondered what interest Serenity Dunes had in their guests that extended beyond simple customer service.
“Now, let us move into our sun salutation sequence,” Seraphina announced, her voice cutting through Sadie’s troubled thoughts. “Flow with the breath and allow your spirit to soar.”
As the class began moving through the poses, Sadie found herself grateful for Melinda’s presence beside her. Her intuition told her that Melinda wasn’t at the spa just for a rejuvenating experience.
But as she participated in the yoga sequence, her mind kept drifting to Todd’s voice on the phone the night before, and the way he’d said she was missed. For the first time since arriving at the spa, she found herself wishing she was back in Montana, surrounded by people who knew and accepted her exactly as she was—sharp edges, sarcasm, and all.
17
The Phoenix tarmac shimmered with heat waves as their plane touched down, the desert sun beating mercilessly through the small aircraft windows. Todd’s fingers were already moving across his phone screen, typing out a message to Sadie.
When will she see it? Is she safe? How soon before she gets this message?The questions churned in his mind as he and Cole made their way through the small terminal, their footsteps echoing in the afternoon crowd. At the car rental counter, they moved with practiced efficiency, splitting up to handle their respective missions. As Cole headed toward the hospital, Todd felt the weight of his own responsibility settle heavily on his shoulders.
Sadie is alone. Until I get there, she has no backup.
The drive to Ajo stretched before him, but he barely registered the desert vista. His rental car hummed along the empty highway as red rock formations and endless scrub brush blurred past his windows. Each mile marker brought him closer to her.
The few hotels in Ajo squatted low against the desert landscape, one-story buildings that looked like they’d been carved from the surrounding stone. The Sonoran Desert Hoteland Conference Center dominated the small cluster, its stucco walls weathered by years of relentless sun and wind. Without a conference in session, the parking lot was nearly empty, dotted with only a handful of vehicles baking in the afternoon heat.
Todd pulled into a spot just outside Timothy’s room and next to his fellow Keeper’s rental. From the room, he’d be able to keep an eye on the vehicles and anyone nearby. The desert air hit him like a furnace when he stepped out, dry and scorching, so different from the mountain coolness of Montana that it felt like stepping onto another planet.
The hotel’s architecture was purely functional, with rooms opening directly to the outside. When Mary had made Timothy’s arrangements, she’d secured one of the larger units complete with a kitchenette, understanding that a Keeper might need to maintain surveillance or communication equipment that required space and privacy.
Todd’s universal key card slid through the reader with a soft beep, and the door swung open to reveal a scene that made his chest tighten with concern for his fallen teammate.
